Nobody said it would ever come easy, even though the St. Louis Blues looked like they were in firm control of their game against the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon.
They were until the final four minutes when things really got nervy.
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But in the end, the Blues got a much-needed win, their first in five games, by closing out the Islanders 2-1 at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The Blues (7-9-6) picked up their first win on a season-long five-game road trip but they have points in all three after ending a four-game skid (0-1-3).
Brayden Schenn and Pius Suter supplied the goals, and Jordan Binnington came up large with 30 saves, including 13 in the third period, to earn a much-needed win.
A look at Saturday’s observations:
* Binnington was tested when game mattered most and prevailed – Binnington was sharp through the first 50 minutes of the game making the necessary saves needed to churn out a road win, but his best came late when he outstretched the left toe and robbed Max Shabanov of a one-timer from the right circle with 5:21 remaining in the game to keep it a 2-0 game:
And it was important because not long after, with 3:20 left, Anders Lee won a net front battle with Cam Fowler to cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1.
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But throughout the game when Binnington was making saves, he was confidently at the tops of the crease and killing pucks, not allowing rebounds and loose pucks to remain in play against a team that’s the best at scoring in and around the net. That was key.
And the goalie gloved Bo Horvat’s one-timer with 29 seconds left in regulation:
* It got dicey late – When Lee scored and made it a one-goal, the collective breath of Blues fans quietly had to be, ‘Here we go again.’
They’ve lost two-goal leads five different times this season and had another one here, and when the Islanders put the puck in the net with 2:06 left, it created some anxious moments, but referee TJ Luxmore immediately waved the goal off for goalie interference from Kyle Palmieri on Binnington.
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However, Justin Faulk was called for a double-minor for high sticking while falling to the ice on Jonathan Drouin, so the Blues had to kill that game off playing 6-on-4. And let’s give the penalty kill some credit here killing that off. It has now killed off 13 straight opponents’ power plays going back to Nov. 5 against the Washington Capitals.
The Islanders got off four shots on the power play, and Pavel Buchnevich had two shot blocks in there that were key.
* Schenn, Buchnevich get going early – A line that was arguably the best on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers that just didn’t put the puck in the back of the net, two veterans that need to supply offense did just that early in this game.
Schenn’s goal 42 seconds into the first gave the Blues a 1-0 lead and was orchestrated beautifully.
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It started with Philip Broberg’s outlet to Dalibor Dvorsky, who finds Buchnevich for a quick 2-on-1, he finds Schenn just inside the top of the right circle and his snap shot was labeled far side to Ilya Sorokin’s blocker:
The line’s Corsi-For/Against wasn’t as good as it was in Philadelphia (7-10) but continues to gain confidence playing with Dalibor Dvorsky, who picked up his first NHL assist on the Schenn goal.
* Broberg continues to excel – Broberg didn’t get an assist on the first goal, but he continues to grab huge minutes and turning into an effective shutdown defenseman playing alongside Colton Parayko.
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For the fourth time in five games, Broberg saw over 26 minutes in a game, and set his own personal career-high 16 days after setting it against the Buffalo Sabres (27:09) when the defenseman played 27:58 in this game, including 25:04 at even strength.
Broberg, who was a plus-1 and had three hits and two blocked shots, was killing plays all afternoon.
The Islanders started flipping pucks trying to use speed into the Blues’ zone in the third period because Broberg and the others on the blue line did a nice job taking away the middle of the ice, so they thought they’d flip pucks in and use speed to try and gain an edge on the forecheck, but Broberg especially would have none of it.; he had no giveaways in this game, and for that amount of ice time, that is exceptional.
* Key late goal in a period which has been subpar, the second – For a change, the Blues won a second period and in essence, won them a hockey game.
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They allowed a late second-period goal against the Flyers on Thursday to cut a 2-0 lead into 2-1, one in which they essentially lost 3-2 in overtime, but this time, it was Suter getting a big goal at 17:51 to extend it to a 2-0 lead.
Jordan Kyrou pulled a puck off the wall of a Faulk shot, found Dylan Holloway in the slot, who somehow got a shot to the net amid tight coverage, and there was Suter, as he often is, at the doorstep waiting for the rebound to scoop it over Sorokin:
The Holloway-Suter-Kyrou line did not have a good Corsi rating on Thursday, but that line was especially effective in this game with a Corsi-for of 15-3, a 13-2 Fenwick-for advantage and 9-1 shots for advantage that generated 13 scoring chances for and two against.
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* Blues took away Islanders good ice – Despite the late push by the Islanders, I thought the Blues defensively as a whole did a solid job of not giving up the middle of the ice as a whole.
The Islanders have some fast options that can gain an edge if you give up the wrong part of the ice, but the Blues for the most part limited their high danger chances until late and did what they had to do to keep Binnington from being under duress.
They even got some good fortune when Tyler Tucker was at the net to keep a puck away from the goal after Binnington had lost sight of it in the first period:
All in all, it was a good effort by everyone. And I thought Fowler had a sneaky, good game with 19:45 ice time and a two blocks to go with a plus-1. He nearly scored on the Blues’ lone power play when he was set up by Jimmy Snuggerud, who oh by the way, can we acknowledge this kid’s passing ability as much as his shot? I think so.
